


know how to pick 'em

by fabr4y (firelrd)



Series: i thought you'd never ask [5]
Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, M/M, lots of faberry in this mf, this is the longest one yet, ur welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24193168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelrd/pseuds/fabr4y
Summary: Quinn organizes a movie night with her friends.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray, Sam Evans/Jesse St. James, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce
Series: i thought you'd never ask [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712890
Comments: 16
Kudos: 140





	know how to pick 'em

**Author's Note:**

> hi. sorry for taking so long to post this; finals kicked my ass. but they're over now, so i should be posting regularly again. as always, comment or i will die xoxo gossip girl

“Alright, Q, are we straight?”

“No,” Quinn replied, not looking up from her book. She was curled up on the couch with a copy of  _ The Shining  _ in her lap, brow furrowed as she read.

Holly rolled her eyes. “Smartass, I meant the picture,” she replied as she hopped off of the chair she was standing on and backed up, trying to see if she had hung it correctly. It was a picture they had taken the night they ate dinner in the Amish Hill Country. The two of them, Holly and Quinn, sitting on the hood of Holly’s car at sunset, blurry and laughing. Quinn’s eyes were closed and Holly’s arms were moving, making her look like a ghost (Quinn’s words). They had placed Holly’s phone on a folding chair she kept in the trunk and set the self timer for ten seconds. It was barely enough time for them to get in position, and their lack of preparation showed in the final product.

It was perfect. 

“It looks good to me,” Quinn said softly, looking up at the picture with a smile. Holly had hung it right above the painting of the mountains. “We have two whole things on the wall now. What an accomplishment.”

“Fuck off,” Holly snorted. “I bought you a phone. Stop sassing me.” 

“That was like two weeks ago, are you ever gonna let it go?”

“Not when I get billed for it every month,” she shot back with a smirk. Quinn rolled her eyes. 

“Whatever.” She turned back to her book for a while as Holly settled in on the other end of the couch and turned on the TV. “Hey, Holly?”

“Yeah?”

“Would it be okay if I… invited some people over on Saturday? Just to watch a movie. Santana, Britt, Sam and I used to have weekly movie nights before… before I moved in with you. I kinda wanna start them up again,” Quinn said, her voice a little quieter than normal as she stared at her fidgeting hands.

Holly smirked. “Only if you invite Rachel.”

Quinn’s mouth dropped open. 

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. No Rachel, no movie night.” Quinn groaned and threw her book in Holly’s general direction. She batted it away easily.

“I hate you so much, you know that?”

“No, you don’t.”

“No, I don’t,” Quinn grumbled. “How the fuck am I supposed to ask her? We’ve never hung out outside of school before.”

“That’s not my problem,” Holly replied, picking up Quinn’s book and flipping through the pages absently, as if she was looking through a magazine in the waiting room of a salon.

“Fuck you. Give that back,” Quinn said, and Holly grinned and tossed the book at her. It hit her square in the chest. “You’re a dick.”

“Yeah, yeah. Read your book,” Holly muttered, a small smile on her face as she turned up the volume on the TV.

“So… can I invite Jess?” Sam asked quietly as he sat down next to Quinn at their lunch table. She immediately rolled her eyes at him. 

“Really? That’s the first thing you’re gonna say to me today?”

He looked at her expectantly. She rolled her eyes again.

“Fine. But only if you forfeit all of your rights to having a say in the movie we watch.”

“Deal,” Sam shot back. Quinn raised an eyebrow, impressed.

“Wow. I thought you’d at least hesitate. Whipped ass.”

“Hey!”

“She’s right, Trouty. Mini Schuester has you wrapped around his finger,” Santana said from her spot across the table as she fed Brittany a french fry. 

Sam made a face. “Gross. Do  _ not  _ call him that.”

Santana shrugged. “His fault for wearing a sweater vest that one time.”

“Is he not Mr. Schue’s son?” Brittany asked, brows furrowed.

“Nah, B. He just acts like it.”

“Can we stop comparing my boyfriend to Mr. Schue? Thanks,” Sam interrupted in a sharp whisper, looking around quickly to make sure no one had heard him. Santana scoffed.

“Why won’t you guys just come out? No one has said shit to me and Britt.” 

Quinn raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Really? You’re gonna ask me that after I got beat up and kicked out for being gay?”

Santana threw her arms up in surrender. “Okay, okay, never mind, Jesus.” She turned to Sam. “You don’t have an excuse, though, Guppy.”

“Uh, yeah I do. The football team would fucking kill me if they knew. Christ, Santana, you really are dense sometimes.”

_ “You?  _ Calling me dense? That’s rich.”

“Guys! Stop fighting. It’s annoying. San, neither of them have to come out until they’re ready, you should know that. Sammy, if you call my girlfriend names one more time I’ll steal your burger. Everybody just eat their food and calm down,” Brittany cut in with a surprisingly demanding tone. It shocked everyone into silence, and she smiled in triumph. “Awesome. Q, what time do you want us to come over on Saturday?”

“Ooh, yeah, we get to see where Miss Holliday lives. She’s hot,” Santana said, completely forgetting the argument from thirty seconds ago.

“That’s disgusting. Don’t call her hot in front of me ever again.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t make it not true.”

Quinn threw a fry at Santana, and Brittany’s hand shot out to catch it before it could hit her girlfriend. She immediately ate it.

  
  


Rachel was standing at her locker, switching out her books between classes and chatting with Finn, who was leaning casually against the wall next to her. Quinn watched them from a little ways down the hall, nervously shifting on her feet, reluctant to approach. Rachel looked good today. She was wearing a cute sweater (even if Santana would never admit it, Rachel’s sweaters  _ were  _ cute sometimes) with the word ‘love’ printed on it in purple, blue and pink letters, and a matching red, blue and purple tartan-patterned skirt. Quinn wanted to believe that her sweater was a subtle message, one that only she would understand. She also didn’t know what it was with Rachel and those damn short skirts that showed off her impossibly long legs, but she wasn’t complaining. 

Quinn took a deep, stabilizing breath and started over towards Rachel. She saw Finn’s eyes widen slightly when he spotted her, then he tipped his head in her direction, a gesture to warn Rachel that she was coming. Rachel spun around and smiled when she saw Quinn, her cheeks a little flushed.

“Hello, Quinn!” Rachel greeted, her voice a little too loud. 

“Hey, Rach. Hey, Finn,” she replied, directing the latter part of her sentence to the tall boy that was currently looking at her with a knowing smile. What he knew was beyond her.

“What’s up, Q?” he said, that weird smile still on his face.

“I was just seeing if Rachel wanted to walk to World History with me,” Quinn responded, eyes darting between Finn and Rachel. Finn grinned and pushed off of the wall, shouldering his backpack.

“Cool, I’ll get going, then.” He leaned closer to Rachel and added, “Remember what I said, Rach. You got this,” in a low voice. He gave her a dopey smile and a thumbs up as he walked backwards down the hall before he stumbled and had to turn around. Rachel snorted at his clumsiness despite the deep blush on her cheeks. She closed her locker with a resounding slam and turned to meet Quinn’s eyes again, the big smile back on her face.

Quinn couldn’t help but beam right back as she said, “Ready to go? I like your sweater, by the way.”

Rachel nodded at her question and smiled at her comment. “Thanks. It’s one of my favorites.” They started down the hallway together, falling into step with each other easily. Quinn took a deep breath as she steeled herself to ask the burning question. Rachel was staring down at her feet, brow furrowed in concentration; she seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hey, so-” Quinn started, but was quickly cut off by the girl next to her. 

“What are-” Rachel began before she realized that Quinn had already started speaking. She laughed nervously and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Sorry. You go first.”

“No, you go first. I can wait,” Quinn responded, trying to stall as much as she could. The possibility of rejection, however small, was hindering her ability to think straight.

“I was just gonna ask what you were doing this weekend,” Rachel said, eyes locked on Quinn’s as she chewed nervously on her bottom lip. 

Quinn laughed to herself; what a perfect segue. “I’m having a movie night on Saturday with Sam and the girls.”

“Oh,” Rachel said quietly, casting her gaze back down to her feet.

“You should come,” Quinn added with a nervous smile. 

Rachel’s eyes snapped back up to Quinn, a little wide. “Really?”

“Yes, really. It’s gonna be fun. Maybe we’ll even let you pick the movie,” Quinn added, knowing full well that there was no way Santana would allow that. She just wanted to see Rachel smile.

“Well, if you do, I hope you know it will be from my musical catalogue. I can bring my DVDs over and we can go through them together if you’d like,” Rachel said, on the beginnings of one of her classic rambles. 

Her big, bright smile was back, though, so Quinn really didn’t mind. 

  
  


Holly was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a mug of hot chocolate, eyebrow raised and lips pulled into a smirk as she watched Quinn dart around the apartment, trying to make everything look perfect. She was fluffing the pillows on the couch and folding the blankets and straightening the two pictures on the wall.

“Q, you need to take a fuckin’ breather,” Holly called from her seat. 

“It’s seven o’clock. She- Everyone gets here in an hour. Everything needs to be just right,” Quinn shot back, muttering the last part to herself. She was in the middle of placing a bowl of pretzels on the coffee table in front of the couch when there was a knock at the door. Quinn froze in place and whipped her head around to look at Holly, who just shrugged. Quinn rolled her eyes, took a deep breath and strode over to the door, swinging it open.

Rachel was standing there in blue shorts and an oversized gray sweatshirt, beaming and holding a giant DVD case in her hands and Quinn’s heart just about melted on sight. 

“Hi. I know I’m early, I just got too excited and didn’t know what else to do with myself,” Rachel greeted, bouncing on her toes and trying to subtly peek around Quinn to get a look at the apartment. 

Quinn laughed. She immediately felt relaxed in Rachel’s presence, especially with the knowledge that the other girl was just as restless as she was in anticipation for the night ahead. “Come in.” She stepped aside and opened the door wider for Rachel, who eagerly entered.

Holly waved from her spot at the table. “Hey, Rachel.”

“Hello, Miss Holliday,” Rachel responded, her posture straightening in the presence of authority.

“You’re in my apartment, dude. You can call me Holly,” the substitute replied with a laugh before sipping on her hot chocolate. She stood and walked into the kitchen to place the now empty mug in the sink, then started towards her bedroom. “I’ll be in my room if you guys need me. Yell for me when the others get here so I can say hi, but otherwise, if no one’s dying, leave me alone.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, don’t act like you don’t want to watch the movie with us.”

Holly shot her the bird as she disappeared around the corner. 

“Anyways,” Quinn said sharply, sending a pointed look in the direction of Holly’s room, “let’s start going through that big ass thing.” She pointed to the DVD case in Rachel’s hands and then moved over to the couch, Rachel on her heels. 

They sat beside each other, knees bumping together and shoulders touching as they flipped through the DVD case that now sat on the coffee table.

“Rach,  _ no one  _ is gonna want to watch Yentl.”

“But it’s a Barbra classic! Everyone needs to see it at least once in their lives,” Rachel argued back with a huff.

“Well, we can watch it sometime, but not tonight. Santana would rip our heads off before the opening credits. We’ll be better off choosing a Disney movie for tonight, because it would make Britt happy, and a happy Britt means a happy Santana,” Quinn explained, flipping back to the animated movie section of Rachel’s collection.

Rachel turned to look at Quinn, smiling softly. “You’d really want to watch Yentl with me? Alone?”

Quinn felt her face heat up and ducked her head to cover her red cheeks with her hair. “I mean, yeah. You said it’s a classic, right? That means I gotta see it. Plus, you’d kill me if I watched it without you.”

“Just admit you want to hang out with me, Quinn,” Rachel said smugly. 

Quinn smirked despite her reddened cheeks. She met Rachel’s eyes and confidently replied, “I want to hang out with you, Rachel. How about next weekend?”

The reaction was instantaneous. Rachel’s mouth dropped open at her forwardness and it was her turn to turn a deep scarlet. 

“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” Quinn said with a shit-eating grin. 

Before Rachel could respond, there was a knock at the door. Quinn smirked at a still dumbfounded Rachel as she stood and strode over to welcome her friends, an extra swing in her step since she knew Rachel was watching.

“-fucker, stop calling him that!” Sam’s voice echoed into the apartment as Quinn opened the door. She was greeted with the sight of an unbothered Jesse with his arm around Sam’s shoulder, and a very bothered Sam, who was glaring at a smug looking Santana. Brittany was the only person who smiled at Quinn when she opened the door.

“Hey, Q!” the blonde said brightly, immediately jumping to Quinn for a hug, which was received fondly.

“What’s up, Britt. Come on in, guys.” The four of them barreled over her to get into the apartment. “Holly, they’re here!” Quinn called as she closed the door behind them.

_ “Jesse?”  _ a voice from the couch shrieked, and Quinn slapped herself internally. She’d completely forgotten about that can of worms. 

_ “Rachel?”  _ the boy in question responded, quickly removing his arm from around Sam’s shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“Quinn invited me. What are  _ you  _ doing here?”

Jesse glanced at Sam, and Quinn knew he was unwilling to out his boyfriend. She gained some respect for him at that. “I… uh…”

“I invited him. He’s, uh, he’s my boyfriend,” Sam interjected, moving closer to Jesse and snaking an arm around his waist. Jesse looked up at Sam in surprise, a slow smile spreading across his face. He snapped his gaze back over to Rachel.

“Yeah. I’m his boyfriend.”

“I think she got that,” Santana said, and Sam reached over to lightly smack her shoulder without looking away from Rachel, who was staring at the two boys open-mouthed.

“O-Oh. Well,” she cleared her throat, “that’s great. I’m happy for you two.” She gave Sam a reassuring smile, showing him that she wasn’t angry with him. His shoulders instantly relaxed at the sight. “May I ask how you met?”

Jesse chuckled. “This idiot spilled his coffee on me at the Lima Bean. Then he offered to get my jacket dry-cleaned, but it was clearly just an excuse to be able to see me again.”

“Was not!” Sam scoffed. “I was just being nice.”

“Sure. That’s why you texted me days before it had even been cleaned to tell me your thoughts on my coffee order.”

Santana rolled her eyes. “If I hear St. James talk about how irresistible he is for another second, I’m gonna puke. Let’s pick a movie.” Before anyone could respond to her, Holly strode into the living room.

“Hola, clase,” she greeted as she passed them on her way to the kitchen. She halted when she saw Jesse, eyeing him up and down. “I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?”

“Jesse St. James. Who are you?”

Holly raised a brow at his abruptness. “The owner of this apartment, smartass.”

“So, you’re Quinn’s mom. I see the resemblance; both of you are blonde and bitchy.”

Holly scoffed and let out a single guffaw. “I admire your wit, but if you talk to me like that again in my own home, consider you banned.”

“Noted,” Jesse nodded.

“Sorry about him, he’s just like this,” Sam interrupted with a nervous, apologetic smile on his face. He gripped Jesse’s bicep and pulled him back, away from Holly.

“Excuse me?”

“He’s right, you are just like that,” Rachel called from the couch, having resumed her search for a good movie to watch. Brittany had joined her on the couch, and Santana sat next to her girlfriend, agreeing with every movie the blonde suggested.

Jesse huffed and retreated to the living room, plopping down in the armchair next to the couch. Sam rolled his eyes, but followed, falling into Jesse’s lap with a laugh.

Quinn turned back to Holly, grinning widely. “So, these are my friends.”

“You sure know how to pick ‘em, kid,” Holly replied with a laugh.

“Oh! Dumbo! San, we  _ have  _ to watch Dumbo,” Brittany said loudly, her voice carrying in the small space.

“Go. Watch Dumbo. And tell me if you ever need me to put that Jesse kid in his place, he sounds like he could use it.” Quinn rolled her eyes and smiled at Holly before turning around and racing back to the couch, back to her spot next to Rachel.

“What’d you guys agree on?”

“Brittany wants to watch Dumbo, and I don’t hear any objections from them,” Rachel said, pointing in the direction of Sam and Jesse, who were whispering quietly to each other and  _ giggling  _ (Quinn’s not sure she’d ever seen Jesse giggle), “so it sounds like that’s the verdict.”

“Hand it over, I’ll go put it on,” Quinn replied, and Rachel gingerly took the DVD out of its spot in the case and passed it to Quinn, who quickly put it into the DVD player, pressed play and rushed back to her seat. 

Holly came out of the kitchen with three bags of popcorn, handing one to each blonde in the room. “You guys can share. Or don’t, I don’t care. And don’t get too loud; I’m trying to watch Grey’s Anatomy in there,” she added, jerking her thumb over to her bedroom. “Otherwise, have fun.”

Quinn immediately opened the bag of popcorn and passed it to Rachel, who grinned and took a handful. Brittany was feeding pieces to Santana, and Sam was holding his bag high up in the air as Jesse grabbed at it futilely. 

Brittany shushed the boys as the Disney logo faded away and the movie started.

  
  


By the end of Dumbo, Sam was passed out with his head in the crook of Jesse’s neck, and Jesse was running his hand soothingly up and down Sam’s back. Brittany had her legs across Santana’s lap, who was subtly wiping away a stray tear from her cheek. Quinn smiled at the sight of her friends in their most natural state.

Rachel, like Sam, had also fallen asleep. Her head was on Quinn’s shoulder, and Quinn had wrapped her arm around Rachel’s frame at some point, making it easier for Rachel to snuggle into her side. Quinn smiled down at the brunette, who was snoring quietly. 

“Is Hobbit snoring? That’s actually kinda cute,” Santana said quietly, not wanting to wake up Sam or Rachel.

Quinn rolled her eyes, but nodded her head slightly.

“Yeah. It is. It’s really cute.”

“Finally admitting you like her now, huh?”

“Shut up. I never needed to admit it. You always knew.”

“True. and for the record, I think you should go for it. She’s good for you.”

Quinn turned her head to meet Santana’s eyes. “You think so?”

Santana shrugged. “Yeah. She, like, knows you, dude. Like we do. That’s gotta count for something.”

Quinn gazed down at Rachel again. Santana was right. Rachel  _ knew  _ her. For all that she was. And she was still here, curled into Quinn’s side, smiling softly in her sleep.

It counted for everything, in her mind.


End file.
